John Calvin Commentary Acts 17:3

"opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom, [said he,] I proclaim unto you, is the Christ." — Acts 17:3 (ASV)

Opening. In this place, he describes the sum and subject of the disputation. He sets forth two points concerning Christ: that He must have died and risen again, and that the Son of Mary who was crucified is Christ. When the question concerns Christ, three things come into question: whether He is, who He is, and what He is.

If Paul had had to deal with the Gentiles, he would have needed to set his beginning further back, because they had heard nothing concerning Christ; nor do irreligious people conceive that they need a Mediator. But this point was beyond doubt among the Jews, to whom the Mediator was promised. Therefore, Paul omits that as superfluous, as it was received by common consent.

But because there was nothing more difficult than to bring the Jews to confess that Jesus who was crucified was the Redeemer, Paul therefore begins with this: that it was fitting for Christ to die, so that he might remove the stumbling block of the cross. And yet we must not think that he recited the bare history. Instead, he undoubtedly takes as a foundational principle that the reasons were shown why Christ must have suffered and risen again; namely, because he preached of the ruin of mankind, of sin and its punishment, of the judgment of God, and of the eternal curse in which we are all enveloped.

For even the Scripture directs us here when it foretells the death of Christ. As Isaiah says not simply that Christ should die, but plainly expressing—because we have all erred, and every one has gone his own way—he assigns the cause of His death: that God has laid upon Him all our iniquities; that the chastisement of our peace is upon Him, that by His stripes we may be healed; that by making satisfaction for us, He has purchased righteousness for us (Isaiah 53:4–8). So Daniel also shows the force and fruit of His death in his 9th chapter (Daniel 9:24), when he says that sin must be sealed up, that eternal righteousness may succeed.

And surely, there is no more suitable or effectual way to prove the office of Christ than when people, humbled by the awareness of their miseries, see that there is no hope left unless they are reconciled by the sacrifice of Christ. Then, laying aside their pride, they humbly embrace His cross, of which they were previously both weary and ashamed.

Therefore, we must come to the same fountains today from which Paul draws the proof of the death and resurrection of Christ. And that definition brought great light to the second point. It would not have been so easy for Paul to prove, and certainly to establish, that the Son of Mary is Christ, unless the Jews had been taught beforehand what kind of Redeemer they were to hope for.

And when that once becomes clear, it only remains for those things to be applied to Christ which the Scripture attributes to the Mediator. But this is the sum of our faith: that we know that the Son of Mary is that Christ and Mediator whom God promised from the beginning; once that is done, that we know and understand why He died and rose again; that we do not imagine for ourselves any earthly king, but that we seek in Him righteousness and all parts of our salvation—both of which things Paul is said to have proved from the Scriptures.

We must know that the Jews of that time were not so obtuse, nor so insolent, as they are today. Paul could have drawn arguments from the sacrifices and from all the worship of the Law, at which the Jews today snarl like dogs. It is well known how improperly they distort and corrupt other places of Scripture.

In those days, they had some receptiveness in them; also, they somewhat reverenced the Scripture, so that they were not completely unwilling to be taught. Today, the veil is laid over their hearts (2 Corinthians 3:15), so that they can see no more in the clear light than moles.